The WORST episodes of Mama's Family

Every episode of Mama's Family ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of Mama's Family!

Mama's Family mined humor from a squabbling family in the Midwestern blue collar suburb of Raytown. The noisy clan was headed by "Mama" Thelma, a buxom, gray-haired widow with sharp opinions and a sharper tongue who shared her small house with her high-strung sister Fran, a journalist for a local paper. Mama's lazy, dimwitted son, Vint, a locksmith by trade, moved in at the start of the series with his troublesome teenage children, Buzz and Sonja, after his wife run off to become a Las Vegas show-girl. Much to Mama's disgust, Vint soon took up with the flirtatious neighbor Naomi. The two where married in early 1983, and Naomi moved in too. Further uproar was caused by the periodic visits from Mama's two married daughter's, the foul mouthed Eunice and the snobbish Ellen. Ed was Eunice's Dolt of a husband. In the Fall of 86 Mama's Family returned to TV in first-run syndication. Fran had recently passed (Rue McClanahan was now starring in The Golden Girls) and Ed and Eunice had moved to Florida, leaving behind their son Bubba as he finishes his time in Juvenile Hall and forcing him to move in. Meanwhile, neighbor Iola Boylen makes the house's acquaintance and becomes a regular visitor with her unique charm.

Last Updated: 3/17/2024Network: NBCStatus: Ended
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For Better or for Worse
star
7.13
151 votes

#1 - For Better or for Worse

Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/29/1983

Vint and Naomi get together, much to Mama's chagrin.

Watch Now:Apple TV
Mama Goes Hawaiian (1)
star
7.15
47 votes

#2 - Mama Goes Hawaiian (1)

Season 4 - Episode 20 - Aired 2/20/1988

After winning a trip to Hawaii on Jeopardy!, Mama and her family go on the trip, along with Iola. Iola and Bubba each find romance, Mama is pestered by a man she believes is a beach bum, and Naomi is confined to the hotel room with a terrible sunburn.

Directors: Dave Powers
Writer: Jim Evering
Mama Gets the Bird
star
7.18
17 votes

#3 - Mama Gets the Bird

Season 4 - Episode 17 - Aired 1/30/1988

After Uncle Oscar passes away, Mama is willed his gabby pet parrot. The bird then starts reciting verses in rhyme, which the family thinks are clues that will lead them to Oscar's rumored hidden treasure.

Directors: Dave Powers
Writer: Jim Evering
Bye-Bye -- Baby!
star
7.20
20 votes

#4 - Bye-Bye -- Baby!

Season 6 - Episode 20 - Aired 2/24/1990

When Naomi is upset about her baby being late, Mama tries to calm her down with a false story about Carl. Mama tells Iola what really happened (both the false and true versions are seen in flashback, with Carl played by Ken Berry). Later that day, Naomi goes into labor and Mama ends up delivering her baby girl, Tiffany Thelma Harper.

Directors: Dave Powers
Writer: Jim Evering
My Phony Valentine
star
7.20
15 votes

#5 - My Phony Valentine

Season 5 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/18/1989

It's Valentine's Day, and Mama falsely says she has a date so that Iola will feel free to go out. To support her lie, Mama orders an escort from "Rent-a-Gent."

Directors: Dave Powers
Writer: Rick Hawkins
Workman's Holiday
star
7.23
22 votes

#6 - Workman's Holiday

Season 4 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/5/1987

When Mama embarrasses Vinton at work with the "Binky Bunny" lunchbox she made for him when he was a kid, she must find a way to cure him of his trauma before he loses his job.

Directors: Dave Powers
Cellmates
star
7.23
96 votes

#7 - Cellmates

Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 2/26/1983

Eunice and Mama wind up in jail after they cause a disturbance at the Bigger Jigger.

Watch Now:Apple TV
The Sins of the Mother
star
7.24
55 votes

#8 - The Sins of the Mother

Season 4 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/9/1988

After Bubba comes home late and drunk, Mama is enraged and gives him an excessive punishment. He does not know why she is being so irrational, until Iola tells him (via flashback) about a similar incident involving Eunice when she was Bubba's age.

Directors: Dave Powers
Writer: Jim Evering
There Is Nothing Like the Dames
star
7.25
16 votes

#9 - There Is Nothing Like the Dames

Season 6 - Episode 19 - Aired 2/17/1990

Vinton and Naomi buy an RV and plan to move to a trailer park; however, they are unable to start the vehicle once it is in the driveway. Meanwhile, Mama is planning to host a fancy backyard luncheon for an snooty society group called the Dames.

Directors: Dave Powers
Writer: Dorothy Van
My Mama, Myself
star
7.27
15 votes

#10 - My Mama, Myself

Season 5 - Episode 7 - Aired 12/17/1988

When the family starts thinking about selling a brooch that belonged to Grandma Crowley, her ghost (played by Vicki Lawrence) starts haunting Mama.

Directors: Dave Powers
Mama's Layaway Plan
star
7.31
16 votes

#11 - Mama's Layaway Plan

Season 5 - Episode 13 - Aired 2/11/1989

After coming back from a cousin's funeral where she and Effie were the only mourners, Mama starts planning her own lavish send off.

Mama Mania
star
7.32
22 votes

#12 - Mama Mania

Season 4 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/21/1987

Didi, an old friend of Naomi's and a professional wrestler, talks Naomi into being a last-minute substitute for her ailing tag-team partner for a match. When Mama accidentally knocks Didi out just before the match, Naomi and Mama have to wrestle against Didi's weighty opponents.

Directors: Dave Powers
A Taxing Situation
star
7.33
18 votes

#13 - A Taxing Situation

Season 5 - Episode 21 - Aired 4/22/1989

Vinton and Naomi persuade Mama to make some creative deductions on her income tax form, which results in a visit from an IRS agent.

Directors: Dave Powers
Black Belt Mama
star
7.34
56 votes

#14 - Black Belt Mama

Season 2 - Episode 12 - Aired 1/14/1984

Mama decides to take a self defense course after being mugged.

Watch Now:Apple TV
Positive Thinking
star
7.35
69 votes

#15 - Positive Thinking

Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 4/30/1983

Eunice wins a role in a production at the Pepperpot Theatre, fulfilling and reigniting a lifelong desire to become an actress.

Watch Now:Apple TV
Pomp and Circumstance
star
7.36
39 votes

#16 - Pomp and Circumstance

Season 4 - Episode 25 - Aired 3/26/1988

Bubba and Mama are graduating from high school, but devastating news for Bubba forces Valedictorian Mama to ensure that she and Bubba and make it to the graduation ceremony in time.

Directors: Dave Powers
Writer: Rick Hawkins
After the Fall
star
7.37
19 votes

#17 - After the Fall

Season 3 - Episode 25 - Aired 3/28/1987

Mama brings Aunt Effie home to nurse her back to health after she falls off the roof while reshingling her house.

Directors: Dave Powers
Writer: Rick Hawkins
No Room at the Inn
star
7.37
57 votes

#18 - No Room at the Inn

Season 2 - Episode 15 - Aired 2/11/1984

Mama decides to play third wheel to Naomi and Vint's first wedding anniversary.

Watch Now:Apple TV
Dependence Day
star
7.38
21 votes

#19 - Dependence Day

Season 5 - Episode 24 - Aired 5/20/1989

After taking Mama's advice to finally stand up to her mother, only to be kicked out of her house, Iola drives everyone crazy with her quirks and well-meaning helpfulness when she moves in with the Harpers.

Directors: Dave Powers
Writer: Jim Evering
A Friend Indeed
star
7.39
18 votes

#20 - A Friend Indeed

Season 4 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/16/1988

When Iola starts spending all her time with a new friend named Arlene, the Harpers are relieved to be free of her, but Mama starts to get jealous of Iola's new friendship.

Directors: Dave Powers
Writer: Dorothy Van
Naomi's Identity Crisis
star
7.41
17 votes

#21 - Naomi's Identity Crisis

Season 4 - Episode 24 - Aired 3/19/1988

Naomi loses her memory after Mama accidentally hits her head with the door. When Naomi asks Mama what kind of person she used to be, Mama convinces her that she was the perfect daughter-in-law who loved to do housework.

Directors: Dave Powers
Writer: Dorothy Van
Mama's Birthday
star
7.42
50 votes

#22 - Mama's Birthday

Season 2 - Episode 19 - Aired 3/17/1984

Mama recounts the horrors of her 30th birthday.

Watch Now:Apple TV
Baby Talk
star
7.42
19 votes

#23 - Baby Talk

Season 5 - Episode 2 - Aired 11/12/1988

Naomi decides that she wants to have a baby. Mama, who is determined to prevent this, arranges for a neighbor's constantly screaming baby to spend the day with Naomi and Vinton.

Directors: Dave Powers
Writer: Rick Hawkins
Fangs a Lot, Mama
star
7.42
19 votes

#24 - Fangs a Lot, Mama

Season 3 - Episode 23 - Aired 3/14/1987

Naomi tries to stop Vint from joining the Mystical Order of the Cobra, an exclusive men's club, on the advice of Mama.

Directors: Dave Powers
A Grave Mistake
star
7.43
53 votes

#25 - A Grave Mistake

Season 2 - Episode 22 - Aired 4/7/1984

Mama throws a fit when she realizes they buried her husband in the wrong cemetery plot.

Writer: Gene Perret
Watch Now:Apple TV